{"id":2117,"date":"2021-06-12T17:48:17","date_gmt":"2021-06-12T21:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/?page_id=2117"},"modified":"2026-02-23T17:10:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T22:10:44","slug":"swale","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/gsi\/tools\/swale\/","title":{"rendered":"Swales"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-md-font-size\">A swale is a grassy depression that controls stormwater velocity and infiltrates runoff where feasible. Swales are typically used to channel stormwater from a street or sidewalk to a rain garden or basin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image col-12 col-sm-6\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/swale-womrath-park.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3716\" style=\"object-fit:cover\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A stormwater swale at Womrath Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons type-tags noicons is-horizontal is-content-justification-left is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-7e5fce0a wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-small\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-green-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/projects\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Public Projects<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-small\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-black-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwdplanreview.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Private Development<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Stormwater swales are vegetated channels that transport stormwater runoff. Swales are typically designed to control stormwater runoff velocity and infiltrate it where feasible.The systems are often used as pretreatment for another downstream stormwater tool, such as a rain garden or stormwater basin. They\u2019re most often planted with turf grass and maintained as lawn areas. Stormwater swales may be located adjacent to roadways and parking lots, upstream of other stormwater tools, or in areas prone to overland flooding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity clear\"\/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-frame\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/swale-diagram.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/swale-diagram.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Diagram of a stormwater swale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A swale is a grassy depression that controls stormwater velocity and infiltrates runoff where feasible. Swales are typically used to channel stormwater from a street or sidewalk to a rain garden or basin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":2104,"menu_order":65,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"custom_css":".type-tags .wp-block-button { display: inline-block; font-size: .85em; text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps; }\r\n.type-tags .has-purple-background-color { background: #B93F8E !important; }\r\n.type-tags .has-green-background-color { background: #3a833c !important; }\r\n.type-tags .has-black-background-color { background: #0d1a2e !important; background: #05b4e6 !important; }","dp_submitted":"0","dp_notify":"0","dp_created":"","custom_js":"var utility = document.getElementById(\"menu-item-2213\");\r\nutility.classList.add(\"current-menu-ancestor\");\r\nvar sw = document.getElementById(\"menu-item-2511\");\r\nsw.classList.add(\"current-menu-ancestor\");","noindex":""},"section":[],"class_list":["post-2117","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","wpautop"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/phila.gov\/gsi\/tools\/swale\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"WebPage","headline":"Swales","url":"http:\/\/water.phila.gov\/gsi\/tools\/swale\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/water.phila.gov\/gsi\/tools\/swale\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":""},"articleSection":"Uncategorized","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lauren Sell"}],"creator":["Lauren Sell"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Green Stormwater Infrastructure","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2021-06-12T21:48:17Z","datePublished":"2021-06-12T21:48:17Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:10:44Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"headline\":\"Swales\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/water.phila.gov\\\/gsi\\\/tools\\\/swale\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/water.phila.gov\\\/gsi\\\/tools\\\/swale\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"\"},\"articleSection\":\"Uncategorized\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Lauren Sell\"}],\"creator\":[\"Lauren Sell\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Green Stormwater Infrastructure\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[],\"dateCreated\":\"2021-06-12T21:48:17Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-12T21:48:17Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-23T22:10:44Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/phila.gov\/p.js"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2893,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2117\/revisions\/2893"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/gsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=2117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}